Warcraft III - Reign of Chaos - Warcraft Movie Sequel Concept
by Otchono
Summary: This is a sequel concept to my sequel concept. A third movie in my hypothetical series of 4 movies. It leads in directly from my concept for the second movie.


PROLOGUE

Open on Draenor. The ground is red and scorched, the sky ripples with green energy. 4 green orcs in warlock robes stand before a small stone gateway. In the middle of them kneel two bound figures. The warlocks begin to chant, causing life essence to begin to drain from the kneeling figures and move towards the gateway. Suddenly an arrow flies in from off-camera and hits one of the warlocks, killing them instantly. Before they have time to react, a bolt of arcane energy flies in from another direction. Garona steps out from behind a rock brandishing two daggers and quickly kills the third orc before scrambling to cut the kneeling figures free. It's Turalyon. He stands up and kills the final warlock with a blow from his sword. Khadgar and Alleria step out from the shadows.

Turalyon asks the others what took them so long, causing the 4 heroes to start bickering playfully. The last we saw of these characters they were stepping boldly through the dark portal. Here they are, clearly some time later having fought their way through the ravaged Draenor. The second bound figure slowly gets to his feet. He's an alien (resembling those seen in the cages at the beginning of the first movie) and clearly a stranger to our heroes. He speaks in a language that only Garona understands. She translates as he thanks them for saving his life, introduces himself as Akama and asks them to follow him.

Turalyon, Khadgar, Alleria and Garona follow Akama through a series of hidden passageways that only he knows about. Through Garona he explains that he belongs to a race called the Draenei. The Draenei didn't originate from Draenor. They come from a far away planet called Argus, where they lived in peace for thousands of years. However, two of their leaders named Kil'jaeden and Archimonde became corrupted by the Fel and transformed into twisted demons. Akama and his people fled Argus to avoid the corruption and found themselves on the orc's world that they went on to name Draenor. Before long the Fel corruption followed them to Draenor and corrupted the orcs through Gul'dan, leading them to slaughter many of the Draenei and use their souls to open the Dark Portal. He believes his corrupted kin are behind it all. Garona tells him that Gul'dan is dead or lost, so the Fel corruption should be gone from Draenor. Akama replies that although Gul'dan is gone, his old master, an even more powerful warlock named Ner'zhul has taken over the orcs. And that he's more cruel than even Gul'dan. Our hereos discuss that they have to defeat Ner'zhul, but dispair at the fact that they are only 4 and not enough to seige the orc's fortress. Akama smiles . They step out into a large rocky clearing. Hundreds of armed Draenei stand in the clearing, as they see Akama they all raise their weapons and cheer. Akama tells the heroes that the Draenei have been planning an attack on the orcs for months, and that with their help they may just succeed.

Cut to Hellfire Citadel. Green orcs and demons mill around. Inside, a brown orc walks through the halls. He has a skull painted in white on his face and is clearly feared by every orc he passes. Ner'zhul. He steps into a room and within seconds is surrounded by roaring green flames. A face appears in the flames, much as it had for Gul'dan. It's Kil'jaeden. Ner'zhul reports that demons are being summoned to Draenor every day, and that they will soon be powerful enough to try and attack Azeroth once more. Kil'jaeden threatens Ner'zhul with eternal torment should he fail him like Gul'dan did. Ner'zhul leaves the room and is immediately approached by a panicked orc who informs him that they're under attack.

At the gates, an army of Draenei led by our heroes lay siege. The battle is spectacular but short. Our heroes push into the citadel and encounter Ner'zhul. He's in a large hall scattered with summoning gateways like the one in the opening scene. Ner'zhul fights using strange shadow magics, the fight is intense. He manages to fatally wound Garona but the heroes defeat him. With his last breaths, Ner'zhul casts a spell, opening every gateway in the room. The fabric of time begins to tear apart. Ner'zhul is pulled into one gateway and Alleria and Turalyon into another. Khadgar tries to help Garona but she's dying. He makes one last promise to her that he'll stabilise Draenor, then set off to find their friends and return to Azeroth to avenge her and Lothar.

Cut to Ner'zhul as he stumbles, barely living, into a world of green flames. Kil'jaeden's face laughs in the flames. However, the flames soon clear and two figures step out of them. Ner'zhul kneels in darkness before two demons, begging for forgiveness. One of the demons - who looks similar to Akama but far larger - lurks silently in the shadows. The other - red skinned and leathery winged - steps forward. It's Kil'jaeden in the flesh. Ner'zhul cries in pain and grovels for forgiveness. Kil'jaeden approaches him and cradles the orc's head in his hand in fake pity. With his other hand he sucks the soul from Ner'zhul's face and holds it up, examining it. Kil'jaeden speaks coldly, telling Ner'zhul that although he failed him in life, he would still serve him in death. He casts a spell, freezing the soul in a block of blue crystal ice. Then launches the crystal back through the chaotic portal.

The other demon, Archimonde, shifts restlessly but Kil'jaeden soothes him. He tells him that he'll have a chance to have his fun soon, but Ner'zhul has some work to do first.

OPENING TITLE SCREEN

The frozen soul flies through a twisting realm of warped magics, similar to the scene where the orcs first crossed through the Dark Portal in the first film. Is it travels, it grows, accumulating more and more ice until it is a pillar. Finally, it emerges in the sky over a snow-covered wasteland. The pillar of ice crashes into the frozen earth, causing a huge shock wave across the landscape. It comes to rest, sticking high above the snow. Two eyes begin to glow in the ice and a faint whispering can be heard. The camera pulls away and moves across the land. Before long it has left the snow behind and continues to soar over open ocean. The whispering noise continues to play as the camera crosses the ocean and approaches land. Before long, the camera reaches familiar territory. It flies over the city of Lordaeron, then some green fields, an internment camp filled with orcs. All the while the whispering continues. Eventually the camera comes upon Dalaran, the floating city of mages. We close in on a tower and enter the window. The camera comes right up to an elderly mage who appears to notice the whispering. He swats at his ear and it stops. The camera pulls out to reveal a bustling Hogwarts-esque classroom full of mage students. The elderly mage is clearly the teacher, and he is instructing a room full of young adults on how to conjure water elementals with a spell.

One of the students, a pretty girl named Jaina, is struggling particularly with the spell. The teacher approaches her and instructs her. He tells her wisdom about controlling the construct, how it is an extension of her will. She tries again. A huge water elemental springs up, the biggest in the class. Jaina is ecstatic and thanks the teacher. His name is Kel-Thuzad.

Someone enters the classroom and announces that Jaina has a visitor. And that it's Arthas, the Prince of Lordaeron. The other classmates gasp and chatter excitedly as Jaina leaves the room. Outside, we see the whole school. Towers rise high into the sky, enchanted brushes sweep the floor by themselves, books fly through the air and students move around from class to class. In the middle of it all stands Arthas. He's handsome and charming and leans casually against a settled gryphon. Students in the background whisper to each other and watch on as Jaina runs up to Arthas and hugs him. They banter fondly, they're childhood friends with a long history who haven't seen each other in a while. Arthas tells Jaina that he's managed to get her out of classes for the rest of the day and wants to show her something. Jaina is hesitant and doesn't think it's a good idea but Arthas is very persuasive. Before long the two of them are mounting his gryphon and taking off.

They fly away from Dalaran and out across the fields. The gryphon banks and weaves high in the sky. Before long they come to the orc internment camp. Jaina shouts at Arthas to bring them in closer which he does begrudgingly. As the gryphon flies low over the camp we see orcs. They are all in tattered clothing and shuffle about with depression. Some orcs sit in cages, others are chained up. They don't even look up. Human guards are stationed around the walls of the camp, heavily armed. Jaina expresses sympathy for the orcs and says that its sad to see them in such a state. Arthas disagrees, he says that they're dangerous monsters who killed thousands of humans in the two wars. He adds that if seeing the orcs like that makes her sad, she'll love what he wanted to show her.

The gryphon lands at Durnholde Keep, home of Lord Blackmoore who's now a decorated and respected war hero after he betrayed the orcs to win the war for the humans in the last film. As they walk through the keep Arthas tells Jaina about how his father, the king, brought him here when he was a young boy. They arrive at their intended destination. A gladiator arena, the spectator seats are packed with a cheering crowd. Lord Blackmoore greets Jaina and Arthas with a warm grin and tells them that they're just in time. He escorts the two to the best seats with a clear view of the arena.

The gates open and several men crowd into the arena. Before long an orc emerges from the far gate. It's the same orc Arthas saw fight as a child, but now he's almost fully grown. Blackmoore explains to them that he found the orcs as a baby and raised him as a son. He taught him human battle tactics, creating the perfect warrior with the body of an orc and the mind of a human. Gladiator's swarm the orc but he takes them out with relative ease. Amidst the fighting, the orc looks up into the crowd and his sad eyes lock with Jaina's for a brief second. Blackmoore and Arthas cheer with delight at the bloodshed but Jaina is uncomfortable. She slips off into the crowd. After a while Arthas notices her absence and follows.

Outside, Jaina is furious. She is appalled that people would gather to watch that orc suffer and fight for their entertainment. Arthas repeats what he said before about orcs being nothing more than bloodthirsty beasts. Jaina tells him that she saw more than that in his eyes, she saw sadness and intelligence. Arthas repeats what Blackmoore said about raising the orc as a son and suggests he had a better upbringing in a Lord's castle than in an internment camp. Jaina won't listen, she begins to cast a teleportation spell for herself. Arthas begs her to stay, saying that they can go somewhere else. He suggests they fly to Lordaeron and visit the flower gardens like they used to. She tells him that this had been a bad idea. She reminds him that they had made an agreement not to see each other while she worked on her magic studies and him on his paladin training. Then she's gone, leaving a frustrated Arthas alone.

We cut back to the arena where the orc has been victorious once again. The show is over and he walks back through the gate. Slowly, he walks through a dimly lit tunnel that leads to a dark dungeon cell. A small sack of a bed lies in the corner. It's clear he has lived in this cage his whole life. He sits against the wall and stares longingly out of the bars of the single tiny window.

Later that night Blackmoore stumbles into the cell on the other side of cage bars. He's carrying a large flagon of ale and is clearly very drunk. He taunts the orc cruelly, laughing at him with malice. He throws the rest of his ale on the orc's head when he refuses to look at him. It's clear that the orc wants to retaliate, but would be punished if he even tried. Blackmoore reminds the orc that he's his prisoner, his slave... his thrall.

It's night time, and the faint sinister whispering can be heard again. The orc sits in his cell, still damp with ale. Arthas tosses in his bed, he can clearly hear the whispers and it is disturbing his sleep. Meanwhile Jaina is in the library at Dalaran, reading by candle light. She looks up from her book, as if the whispers disturbed her. But that wasn't the case, she had had an idea. The whispers fade as she stands up. She walks to a bookshelf and grabs two books.

Back at Durnholde Keep we see Jaina teleport in holding the two books she took from the shelf. She sneaks past guards using magic and eventually discovers the orc's cell. He's shocked to see her and is defensive at first. Jaina tries to talk to him but he can't understand. She introduces herself as Jaina. He has no name, but in response he introduces himself as 'Thrall' - the last thing he had been referred to as. She slips the two books through his bars and explains that one is a book used to teach children how to read the Common tongue and another is studies by Khadgar on the orcish language. Guards can be heard outside, and before long they enter the cell. But Jaina has vanished and the books have been hidden. Nothing appears to have changed.

Days later and Jaina is sitting waiting for class to start. However, she's shocked when a different teacher walks in in place of Kel'thuzad. The teacher explains that he's called in sick, Jaina is concerned but the class continues.

Meanwhile, in Lordaeron, Arthas is sparring with a dwarf named Muradin. It's clear that the two are close. Afterwards, Muradin tells Arthas that he will be going away for a while, to the prince's dismay. Muradin tells Arthas that he has more duties than just teaching him to fight and that he's been called away by his brother, the king of the Dwarves. He is heading an expedition north to the far off land of Northrend to inspect some strange movement they've sensed up there. Arthas scoffs, wondering why anyone would want to go north where it's so cold and desolate but Muradin tells him he has no choice and that the prince is in good hands with his other tutor, Uther. Muradin leaves. Before long Uther appears alongside Arthas's father, King Terenas. Terenas is warm to his son and tells him how he must listen to Uther's wisdom and learn to be a great paladin. He tells him how he will soon be king and must command the hearts of his loyal subjects. The King leaves and Uther goes on to teach Arthas a lesson on how to wield the light as a paladin.

Night again and the whispers return. In a farm, somewhere in Lordaeron, under the cover of darkness a mysterious hooded character drifts through the farm until he reaches a large mill. Outside the mill sits hundreds of boxes of grains. The hooded figure chants a quick spell and waves his hand over the grains, casting a spell upon them.

Thrall sits in his cell, slowly trying to read the books by the faint moonlight that comes through the cell's small window. This is mirrored by Jaina, who is simultaneously reading back in the Dalaran library.

Day again and the whispers are gone. Thrall fights for his life in the arena. This is mirrored by Arthas, who is sparring safely with Uther in Lordaeron. Their sparring session is cut short, however, as a paladin enters the room and informs them that they've been summoned by the king. The king tells Arthas that a bad sickness has broken out across the country and he wants him and Uther to investigate it. Arthas protests, but the king insists. The people love Arthas and it would lift their spirits to see him helping them.

Uther and Arthas mount their horses and ride out to a rural town where the outbreak is taking place. As soon as they arrive they're approached by dozens of sick townsfolk. They all look awful and are begging for help. Arthas hesitates, but only for a second, before approaching them. He sooths them and tells them that he's come to help. The two paladins try to heal the sick people with their holy Light magic, but to no avail. Uther is baffled, he says that he's never seen a disease like this before and that it must be magic in origin. Arthas agrees, and tells his men to send for a mage from Dalaran to come and investigate.

Before long Jaina appears with several other mages. At first she's frustrated that Arthas would summon her after their argument, but she quickly realises the gravity of the situation when she sees the desperation in his face. She examines some of the sick people using spells and agrees that the disease is magical, but that she doesn't know how to cure it yet and will need to do some reading. The people are horrified but Arthas promises that he'll find away to save them.

Night again. Jaina is reading once more, but this time more urgently. Books are piled all around her. Arthas is sitting on the side of his bed, clutching his head, feeling guilt for not being able to help his people and hearing the whispers once more.

Blackmoore stumbles drunkenly into Thrall's cell. The orc scrambles to hide the books. Blackmoore holds a bowl of porridge. He taunts Thrall will the food cruelly, before pouring the contents of the bowl onto the ground out of the orc's reach. He laughs and says that the orc hadn't earned his dinner for today before leaving. Thrall tries to reach for the food but fails.

The next day Arthas is woken in his bed by a summons by the king. He clearly barely slept. When he arrives in the throne room the king is sorrowful. He informs the prince that the disease had spread across most of the country over night, and that whole towns of people are dropping dead. One such place is Durnholde Keep. Arthas is in denial and refuses to believe what he's hearing. He rides directly to the keep, Uther in tow. When he gets there he is greeted a ghastly scene. Fresh corpses are everywhere, swarming with insects. He wanders through the keep in despair. Before long, Jaina appears. She tries to comfort Arthas but he's non-responsive at first. He believes he failed his people. Eventually she begins to get through to him and convince him that there was nothing he could do.

However, it isn't over yet. Uther notices it first and calls out to them. The corpses are beginning to rise. Before long they're surrounded by zombies. The undead shamble towards them. At first, the three are confused but when the zombies begin to attack them they realise the danger they're in. They fight back, Arthas and Uther using the light to smite the undead down and Jaina using magic. The zombies keep coming, everyone who had died from the illness is rising as undead. In the chaos of the battle, the whole keep begins to burn.

Suddenly, Jaina remembers Thrall. She fights her way to his cell, fearing the worst. Outside she encounters an undead Blackmoore who she kills. Inside, Thrall is trapped in his cage while the building burns around him. He is still alive. Jaina summons a water elemental to put out the flames and uses magic to blast open the cage's lock. Thrall emerges, clutching his two books. The two stand face-to-face among the chaos for a second before Thrall flees. Jaina follows him out of the building.

Outside, the battle is over. Arthas and Uther stand, exhausted, surrounded by mounds of fallen zombies. Arthas notices Thrall leaving and instantly goes to block his path. Jaina convinces Arthas that Thrall is not his enemy, and they have much more pressing concerns. Arthas steps aside. Thrall thanks Jaina in broken language before running into the woods and disappearing.

From the main building of the keep emerges a laughing robed figure, the same one from before. He drops his hood and Jaina is horrified to learn that it is her old teacher, Kel'thuzad. But he isn't the caring old man she once knew, he has clearly gone insane. Kel'thuzad proudly admits to spreading the undead plague, and warns them that it is only the beginning. He babbles about a "dark master" who whispered to him. Arthas has heard enough, he is furious. He strikes the necromancer down with a single blow.

There's a moment of silence. No one knows what to say. The silence is broken by Jaina, she suddenly noticed the corrupted crates of grains. She comes to the conclusion that the plague must have been spread through the grains, and anyone who ate them has been infected. Arthas is cold, he turns to Uther and calmly asks him where else the grains may have been sent.

We cut to King Terenas back in his throne room. Him and several others are leaning over a map of Lordaeron. Someone points out all the different places that would have received the corrupted grain. Dalaran and the Capital city both source their own food. But, he says, the second largest city in all of Lordaeron - Stratholme - is likely to have received a shipment. Terenas' face turns white.

Cut to Arthas, Jaina, Uther arriving at Stratholme followed by a small army. They stand atop a hill and overlook the city. It's clear that everyone in the city is already infected. Arthas comes to the conclusion that the only way to save his people from the horrors of being raised as undead is to kill them himself before the disease takes them. Jaina and Uther both urge him to reconsider but he has decided. The two turn their backs on him.

Arthas steps into the city, followed by several of his men. The sick citizens swarm Arthas as they had before. They are delighted to see their prince and beg him for help. But he is cold. Arthas raises his hammer and starts striking them down. Men, women and children. Confusion turns to horror as the citizens realise their prince has turned on them. But he remains convinced this better than the alternative.

Cut to the end. Stratholme has been culled. The streets are lined with bodies and Arthas' hammer drips with blood. He's lost, confused. He did what he thought was best, but he failed his subjects.

A lone house at the end of the street on which Arthas stands catches his attention. Strange green flames can be seen emerging from the windows and door. Curious, he steps inside. Inside the house, Kil'jaeden's burning visage laughs wickedly. He taunts Arthas, and tells him that Kel'thuzad was only a minion. The true source of the undead plague lives north, in the frozen wastelands of Northrend. He tells the prince that the only way he can truly have his revenge is by travelling north, and killing the source. The source of the plague. The source of the whispers. The Lich King.

Arthas steps out of the house and commands his men to gather some ships. They're sailing north. His people will be avenged.

CUT TO CREDITS


End file.
